Am I safe?: Homosexual perceptions of physical safety in Cape Town’s nightlife

Abstract

South African society, whilst progressive in terms of its constitutional view of homosexuality, is still instilled with homophobic discrimination and violence that detrimentally affects those on both group and individual levels (Boonzaier & Zway, 2015; Mostert, Gordon & Kriegler, 2015). This poses a threat to the physical and psychological well-being of homosexual individuals (Polders, Nel, Kruger & Wells, 2008) which is, in part, due to the perceptions one has of their own safety (Lorenc, Petticrew, & Whitehead, 2014; Machielse, 2015). A need to understand such perceptions is therefore evident. In order to attain the perceptions homosexual individuals held towards their physical safety, qualitative data collection methods were adopted. This approach was necessary as qualitative methods value individual and subjective experience, aspects that are key when attempting to attain perceptive insights (Ponterotto, 2005). The findings showed that the perceptions homosexual individuals held towards their physical safety varied greatly. Additionally, three themes, these being; determinants of safety, positive or negative experience, and precautionary actions, were found consistently in the collected data, and have been addressed in detail. These findings aided in addressing the gap in existing literature pertaining to the homosexual experience in South Africa from within the field of psychology.